The Koran

News about The Koran, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 23, 2015

University of Birmingham researchers say radiocarbon testing has revealed that two pages of ancient manuscript appear to be part of what may be oldest copy of Quran, and may have been transcribed by contemporary of Prophet Muhammad; pages are estimated to be at least 1,370 years old, although experts who have examined script on pages caution that age of pages does not necessarily prove age of transcription. MORE

Oct. 5, 2012

Egyptian authorities release two Coptic Christian boys detained after they were accused of urinating on a Koran, but they will remain under investigation. MORE

Oct. 4, 2012

Two Coptic Christian boys are detained by Egyptian authorities on charges that they defiled pages of a Koran, in latest case involving accusations of insults to Islam; charges may add to growing anxieties in Egypt about free speech rights and the status of nation's Christian minority, which fears an erosion of rights under an Islamist government. MORE

Aug. 28, 2012

American military authorities discipline nine service members for two episodes--the burning of Korans and the posting of a video showing Marines urinating on dead insurgents--that had prompted nationwide outrage in Afghanistan; punishments do not include criminal charges or jail times and fall short of what Pres Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan had demanded. MORE

Jul. 5, 2012

Thousands of people drag a Pakistani man accused of desecrating the Koran from a police station in central Pakistan, beat him to death and then set his body on fire; episode highlights the highly charged nature of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, under which anyone found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad or the Koran can be sentenced to death. MORE

Jun. 27, 2012

World's top Koran reciters travel to Tehran to compete in the Iran International Koran Competition; entrants include champions from 65 countries. MORE

May. 1, 2012

Terry Jones, controversial pastor from Florida, sets fire to several copies of the Koran, angering Iranian politicians; Jones says he is protesting the imprisonment of Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who converted to Christianity. MORE

Apr. 17, 2012

Drive by a fundamentalist Muslim group to give a copy of the Koran to every German, Swiss and Austrian household has tapped into the widespread anti-Islamic feeling in Germany and created an uproar among politicians and security officials; while campaign, started by Salafist preacher Ibrahim Abou-Nagie, is not illegal, officials fear it is a cover to recruit radicals. MORE

Mar. 27, 2012

New York Times/CBS News poll finds that 69 percent of Americans believe the United States should not be at war in Afghanistan; poll comes as the Obama administration weighs options for speeding up troop withdrawals in the wake of bad news from the battlefield, including accusations that a US Army staff sergeant killed 17 Afghan civilians and violence set off by the burning of Korans by American troops in February. MORE

Mar. 15, 2012

Memo From Kabul examines the muted response to date in Afghanistan to a massacre of 16 Afghans relative to outrage at the burning of Korans, and American surprise at the difference; says lack of protests or revenge killings indicates a fundamental disconnect, one that has undermined America's objective to win the hearts and minds of the population. MORE

Mar. 12, 2012

News analysis; outrage from back-to-back episodes of the Koran burning and killing of at least 16 Afghan civilians imperils what the Obama administration once saw as an orderly plan for 2012: to speed the training of Afghan forces so that they can take control of combat missions, while drawing the Taliban into negotiations to end more than a decade of constant war. MORE

Mar. 6, 2012

United States and Afghanistan appear to make no headway in high-level negotiations on a long-term strategic partnership that have been embittered somewhat by the Koran burnings in February. MORE

Mar. 5, 2012

Prospects for a long-term American strategic partnership with Afghanistan appears to be dimming, despite American offer to transfer detention centers to Afghans in six months; burning of Korans by American soldiers appears to have hardened the differences between the longtime, if wary, allies. MORE

Mar. 3, 2012

American and Afghan officials investigating the Koran-burning episode that has brought relations between the countries to a new low say that the destruction could have been headed off at several points along a chain of mishaps; admission of lapses, as well as disciplinary review of some who were involved, is unlikely to ease Afghan outrage that has spilled over into riots and attacks on American troops. MORE

Mar. 2, 2012

Two more United States soldiers are killed in southern Afghanistan when an Afghan soldier, apparently in league with a civilian, killed an Afghan tower guard and attacked a barracks with gunfire and a rocket; six soldiers have been killed since the burning of copies of the Koran. MORE

Feb. 27, 2012

Afghan officials search for man they suspect killed two American military officers working in the Interior Ministry; grenade hurled by protesters at a camp in Kunduz wounds at least six Amercian service members, as animosity continues over the inadvertent burning of several Korans. MORE

Feb. 26, 2012

Two American officers are shot dead inside the Interior Ministry building in Kabul, Afghanistan, and NATO responds by immediately pulling all its advisers out of Afghan ministries; order comes on the fifth day of virulent anti-American demonstrations across the country protesting the American military's burning of Korans at a NATO military base. MORE

Feb. 25, 2012

Violent protests break out again in Kabul, Afghanistan, a day after Pres Obama expresses 'deep regret' over the burning of Korans at a NATO air base; ten Afghan civilians protesting the burnings die, bringing death toll to 24 since the protests began. MORE

Feb. 24, 2012

Deadly violence in Afghanistan over the burning of several copies of the Koran by American military personnel continues as two American soldiers and seven Afghans are killed, with many more injured; President Obama sends letter of apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in an effort to tamp down the protests. MORE

Feb. 24, 2012

Editorial calls the behavior of American soldiers who burned copies of the Koran in Afghanistan 'shockingly insensitive'; understands Afghans' anger but holds there is no justification for violent rampages; urges Pres Hamid Karzai to remind Afghans of the huge sacrifices American forces have made fighting the horrors of Taliban repression. MORE

Feb. 23, 2012

Protesters angry over the burning of Korans at Bagram Air Base, largest American base in Afghanistan, take to streets in demonstrations in a half-dozen provinces, leaving at least seven people dead and many more injured; American Embassy officials are on lockdown and the mood remains tense across Kabul. MORE

Feb. 22, 2012

Word that NATO personnel in Afghanistan had burned an undisclosed number of Korans and were preparing to dispose of many more by incineration sets off an angry protest in Bagram, with about 2,000 Afghans descending on the air base there; NATO officials rush to apologize publicly and profusely, trying to head off what they fear could be a nationwide outburst of violence. MORE